The Thirty-Day Journey from Prison to Spiritual Peace: Part 1

By Joshua Proby

Spirit, family, life, relationships, friendships, respect, and time. This 30 day journey is going to take us through the valleys where we have felt like we lost our spirit, through the fire that it seems family has burned us with, through life that at times leaves us feeling lost, to the relationships and friendships that have left us broken.

We have felt robbed of respect, so why respect others?

Time is just another word. We never keep track of it, because the pain we feel is too great to count the hours, days, and months.

We will look at each topic in 5 different ways that will take our spirit, family, life, relationships and friendships, our respect for self and life, and the value of time to another level -- to a place of peace.

Are you ready? Let's go!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 23, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638447184

Book preview

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The Thirty-Day Journey from Prison to Spiritual Peace

Part 1

Joshua Proby

ISBN 978-1-63844-717-7 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63844-719-1 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-63844-718-4 (digital)

Copyright © 2021 by Joshua Proby

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Spirit

Family

Life

Friendships and Relationships

Respect

Time

To my son, Jashaun; my daughters Jeniah, Zavia, and Tynecia; my mother, Rhonda; and my amazing wife, Lecia. Thank you for supporting me and loving me.

To one of my editors, Elizabeth Sagasar: You took handwriting on prison-issue paper of a young man in solitary confinement and you translated it, helping the message come through. I am forever in your debt.

And to all of the people in and out of prison who’ve not had the chance to express their pain.

God bless you all!

Acknowledgments

Transcribed from Mr. Proby’s handwritten material and edited by Elizabeth Sagasar

Edited by Rae Jenkins and Robert Canipe

Cover photo and author photo by Janella Thaxton

Cover designed by Cheyenne Chumley

Concept by Rae Jenkins and Josh Proby

Execution by Clayton Joe Young and Robert Canipe

Thanks to Jonathan Lail for the graphic art suggestions!

Introduction

My life has been full of ups and downs, highs and lows. Pain plagued my life for many years until I was placed in a prison where I could not run anymore.

You may hear the word prison and ask, What did he do to deserve that? That question is one that deserves an answer: first-degree burglary.

So the next question is, Why? Because all my life things were taken from me. My sisters and brother were taken due to addiction. My innocence was taken when I was molested at age eleven. My sense of safety was taken by mental and emotional abuse.

Life taught me to take because that is all anyone did to me. The pain of my childhood led me to serve twelve years in prison, but rather than take away my freedom, incarceration ultimately led me to find freedom within. Each vignette in this book is a building block, part of a new foundation of understanding, as well as a hammer to break down the internal prison that held me back long before I was behind actual bars.

Maybe as you read this you are saying to yourself, I’ve never been to prison. Why should Joshua’s story matter to me? So many of us live behind prison walls, whether we’ve ever been behind bars or not. Shame, fear, guilt, anger, frustration, distrust, addiction, abuse—the circumstances of our lives can cause us to build prison walls brick-by-brick, but we don’t have to spend the rest of our lives behind prison walls of our own making.

So let’s take a journey down the road of my life so through it you may find a deeper understanding of you so you, too, can go from prison to peace.

An Introduction to Chapter 1

Although I was raised in the church, there were so many things going on outside of church that made me question if the spirit that lies within me was even alive.

I was mentally, emotionally, and physically abused to the point that I would sit in the pews at church and go to sleep—not because I wasn’t interested in the message but because the pain I felt left my spirit empty.

The day that I was molested was the day I felt my spirit had left me; going forward in life, I was merely existing, not truly living.

As I penned these words, I sat in a prison cell alone, not able to blame anyone, but I had the opportunity to look in the mirror and look at myself. And it was then that I was able to face all the pain.

Despite all the hurt, I saw that the spirit I thought had left me was waiting for me to uncover it.

Chapter 1

Spirit

Day 1

Stop Talking and Testify

Many of us do a lot of talking, whether in person or on social media, but how often do we use our voices to testify about the goodness of the Lord?

When it comes to talking, people get into the habit of going on and on, carrying on conversations that have no true meaning and no real value. How often, when speaking to a friend, family member, or spouse, can testimony be heard in our conversation?

Every believer, regardless of background, has a testimony God can use to change the outlook of life for another. Sometimes when we speak, we seek to reinforce our own logic or gain attention for ourselves. When we give control to the Holy Spirit—inviting God to use our words, our stories, and our voices—He can use us for good. When our goal is dominating the conversation or talking to pass time, the Spirit has no room to influence the conversation.

Some people crawl into a shell when the spiritual things of life come up, but 2 Timothy 1:8 says, So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. Sometimes we just want to chat about sports or the weather, and not every conversation is a Jesus conversation, but Christ should be seen in and through what we say. The more we allow our conversations to be led by the Spirit, the more our conversations will be saturated with substance rather than being engulfed in daily problems and complaints.

For the Spirit to have full reign in our lives, we must be bold in our testimony; our boldness must be in what God has delivered us from. God delivered me from a twelve-year incarceration; and because of my testimony, when I speak, I speak of the joy, the love, and the wisdom I gained. By honoring God more than my past condition, the Spirit can flow and bless those whom I come in contact with.

What has God delivered you from? The Lord may have delivered you from drugs, past pain, smoking, abuse; whatever He has freed us from, we honor Him best when we focus on His mercy and not the logic of this world.

Why is the natural human drive to speak so strongly ingrained in most of